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Lessons in Dissent

A vivid portrait of a generation of Hong Kongers committed to creating a new more democratic Hong Kong. Schoolboy Joshua Wong dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of National Education. Whilst former classmate Ma Jai fights against political oppression on the streets and in the courts. Catapulting the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action. The viewer is confronted with Hong Kong's oppressive heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent. Filmed over 18 months this is a kaleidoscopic, visceral experience of their epic struggle.

Lessons in Dissent

NR 2014
Almost Home

The feature directorial debut of Jiang Wenjie, cinematographer and editor of Keep Rolling, explores the inner lives of three female Hong Kong writers: Hon Lai-chu, Lee Wai-yi, and Human Ip. Though their styles and thematic concerns differ considerably, the film shows that their literary works are all informed by their immediate surroundings, whether that be a childhood home, the streets of Sham Shui Po, or the cattle and woods near Lai Chi Wo village. Time may inevitably erode everything in this city, but these writers continue to tell their hometown's stories in their own unique ways.

Almost Home

NR 2026
YP1967

Everyone has their secrets. Everyone has the past no one’s heard about. But what makes an entire generation sit in stunned silence with unmentionable hesitation to talk about their past? Even the past was 50 years ago. Five decades after the Hong Kong leftist riots, six ex-young prisoners speak out for the first time about their personal and unmentionable experience. Documentary film YP1967 is about their love and hate towards their country, their honour and dishonour as a convicted criminal, their condonation and condemnation of the parties involved, and their truth-seeking and reconciliation with the past.

YP1967

NR 2017
Franco Mella

Franco Mella is a devoted figure whose life bridges Catholicism and Communism. He has journeyed through Asia, lived simply, and fought for social justice, notably within Hong Kong's protest history as depicted in "Ordinary Heroes" (1999). Mella's path weaves through religious and revolutionary movements, from church beginnings to Communist activism and the Handover, always driven by his missionary spirit and communist ideals. For four decades, he has steadfastly championed the oppressed, undeterred by shifting politics, expressing solidarity through music and protest, and remaining a symbol of wisdom and resilience for the people of Hong Kong.

Franco Mella

NR 2018
All's Right With The World

The film explores the hidden face of poverty in one of the world's most affluent and capitalistic cities. Directed by CHEUNG King Wai (KJ: Music and Life), the film follows five Hong Kong families of different backgrounds that receive government subsidies. How do the poor get by in a glossy city that flaunts conspicuous consumption and hides poverty in cavernous public housing estates? All's Right With The World shares the different stories of these low-income families, their daily living conditions, and their ways of celebrating Chinese New Year.

All's Right With The World

NR 2007
Trial and Error

This Anti-ELAB (Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill) Movement documentary short takes us back to the airport occupation on 12 August 2019. Although this new form of protest soon turned into a crisis, it became an important lesson for the protesters. Compared to the tension inside the airport terminal, the long walk home at sunset on the Lantau highway, which connects the Hong Kong International Airport to the residential areas, felt like a reminiscence of a school field trip.

Trial and Error

6.0 2020
A Life in Six Chapters

A Life in Six Chapters is S. Louisa Wei’s latest documentary, devoted to the writer Xiao Jun. It can be seen as part of a series of works beginning with Storm under the Sun on the Hu Feng Affair, and includes documentaries on Wang Shiwei, the cultural critic who became one of the first intellectuals to be purged by Mao in the Yan’an period; and the writer Xiao Hong, who after a six-year common-law marriage to Xiao Jun eloped to Hong Kong, where she died a tragically early death.

A Life in Six Chapters

NR 2021
Hong Kong Connection: 721 Yuen Long Nightmare

The Hong Kong police have been accused of mishandling Yuen Long's attack on 21 July. Stephen Lo Wai-Chung, the Commissioner of Police, explained that the "delay" was due to insufficient manpower as the force was busy dealing with a protest in Hong Kong Island, as well as 3 cases of fight and 1 case of fire in the Yuen Long district. Hong Kong Connection's reporters have collected CCTV footage dated 21 July form different cameras along Fung Yau Street North, Yuen Long, and interviewed relevant persons, to reconstruct the attack's timeline and take a closer look at the police's arrangement during Yuen Long's "nightmare".

Hong Kong Connection: 721 Yuen Long Nightmare

NR 2019
Rudy Maxa's World: Hong Kong & Bangkok

Beginning with a private, rolling party on board one of Hong Kong's iconic streetcars, travel journalist Rudy Maxa and former chef and now Washington, D.C. restaurateur Daisuke Utagawa lead viewers through on of the worlds most exciting cities. Hong Kong takes cuisine from around the world and makes it its own. Explore the cuisine as well as the mostly unknown, lush side of Hong Kong where hiking trails and beaches rule. Bangkok - In a city where the weather is always hot, it is natural that residents spend so much time eating outside. Street food rules the capital of Thailand, and no visitor should miss the opportunity to follow local custom. Utagawa and Maxa taste their way through the city while exploring the Klongs (canals) and temples that make Bangkok a visitors paradise.

Rudy Maxa's World: Hong Kong & Bangkok

7.0 2018
Road Not Taken

After the failed Umbrella Revolution in 2014, lives go back to normal, but the scenes of the great protest are like yesterday for Billy and Popsy, students in the University of Hong Kong who took part in the movement. One of them now becomes a student leader, while the other chooses a low-profile life as a private tutor. Amid the rapid social changes, when the Communist Beijing government is extending their influence to Hong Kong to take away the freedom and democracy, how would the youths see their future? Do they still see hopes, when both peaceful protests and radical actions seem to be futile?

Road Not Taken

NR 2016
The Magnificent Levitation Act of Lauren O

Su shot The Magnificent Levitation Act of Lauren O at Hong Kong’s Shaw Studios. She came up with the character after she came across American science fiction writer Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, which followed protagonist Lauren Oya Olamina on a quest for freedom. Su’s character belongs to a fictional activist-anarchist group called Laden Raven which was founded in the 1930s. Composed of circus performers—often viewed as social outcasts—and other marginalised members of society, the group attempts to change the world as did the 60s counterculture movement.

The Magnificent Levitation Act of Lauren O

NR 2022
311 Revival

Fukushima used to be a wonderful place. Unfortunately, since March 11, 2011, "Fukushima" has been superseded by another name: Nuclear Disaster Zone. Six years have passed, but over 80,000 Fukushima residents still cannot return home, still cannot return to their former lives. How did they get through it? Reconstruction work is slow. Several years on, surrounding the site of the Fukushima nuclear incident, there remain many refuge-seeking residents whose homes are still in lockdown. In the streets, people are taking it to their own hands to save their communities. Psychologically and practically, how does one rebuild? Does the civil society's self-rescue mission conclude in recovering what was lost, or in reviving an even better community? In their eyes, what is "revival"? What is the meaning of "rebirth"? Our crew went all over the coastal areas of Fukushima, recording stories of residents each finding their own ways to save themselves.

311 Revival

5.0 2017
Umbrellas Move

“Umbrellas Move” is a long feature documentary capturing scenes from Hong Kong’s city-wide protest, the occupy movement in 2014. This documentary witnessed a critical page of Hong Kong after transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain to China. Around 1200 thousand people have involved in this longest occupation in the history of Hong Kong in 2014. 79 days of occupation, Hong Kong people are fighting for their rights to vote under a fair election in order to be against the political controls from China.

Umbrellas Move

NR 2016
Meng Lang

People leave, taking much with them and leaving much behind. The poet Meng Lang passed away from illness in December 2018. He was forced into exile by political oppression in Shanghai, fled to the United States, then arrived in Hong Kong, and finally chose to settle in Taiwan. Throughout his life, Meng Lang pursued freedom with the will of a poet and lived passionately. He opposed tyranny through his actions and celebrated the power of literature through his poetry. His life was a journey of wandering and migration, and along the way, those he met and came to like were mostly poets. His wife, friends, and comrades discussed poetry and politics with him, and all felt the warmth and kindness he brought to his interactions. In a noisy era, everyone is hurried along by fate. At some moment, with deep reluctance, everyone bid farewell to Meng Lang and set out again on their journeys.

Meng Lang

NR 2020
Where Comes Mulan

Where Comes Mulan follows artist and filmmaker Tianyi Zheng as she returns to her ancestral village in Huangpi, Wuhan, where the legendary figure of Mulan is said to have originated. Beginning with intimate conversations with relatives and local residents, the film traces how Mulan has been remembered or forgotten in everyday life, only to collide with how local authorities have transformed her image into a powerful tourism brand. Through walks across tourist sites and abandoned ruins, Zheng questions the gap between lived memory and official narrative.

Where Comes Mulan

10.0 2026
Because I Choose Freedom

Matthew Leung Ming-hong had been working as a breaking-news reporter for six years in Hong Kong but recently emigrated to the United Kingdom because of concerns about growing restrictions on journalists working in the city. Three Hong Kong media outlets popular with the opposition have folded in just six months, following the introduction of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, raising fears about the future of press freedom in the city. The 29-year-old is starting a new life in Britain’s northern city of Manchester and plans to eventually resume his journalism career in Europe.

Because I Choose Freedom

5.0 2022
Raging Land 3: Three Valleys

After the anti-express rail protests, Choi Yuen Village’s struggle did not end with the railway project approval. Villagers shifted from fighting demolition to painstakingly relocating and rebuilding their community. In 2011, they planned the new village together—including house design, sewage, and land use—while facing government pressure to move out by November. Road access issues caused additional worries. As demolition began, villagers stood together to protect their homes and demanded time to build before moving. By May 2011, villagers left their longtime homes for makeshift housing on newly bought farmland, continuing their collective effort. Their unity in overcoming countless challenges set an example for other rural communities and shows that real resistance is a long journey requiring ongoing attention.

Raging Land 3: Three Valleys

NR 2013
Searching For Her

A young woman reminisces on the life of her mother years after her untimely death. “Searching for Her,” is an intimate exploration, told through old photographs and home videos, of a daughter coming to terms with a person she hardly knew. “For some reason I forgot you had emotions,” says the daughter, filmmaker Natalie A. Chao, in a present day hypothetical letter to her mother, “your own style, friends, a love life.” Her reflections form a moving tribute, a poetic re-evaluation of family history, memories, culture, love.

Searching For Her

NR 2016
Fallen Treasures

With over seven decades of history, Chi Kee Sawmill has lived through multiple transformations by Hong Kong’s timber industry, including the economic boom in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as its radical shift to processing and recycling used timber. However, when the sawmill faces compulsory eviction by the government for its Northern Metropolis development project, the survival of this successful family-owned business becomes a modern David- versus-Goliath story. The latest documentary by photojournalist- turned-filmmaker Elyse Hon is a wistful look at the unstoppable machine of urban development and an old-school business unable to withstand the flow of time

Fallen Treasures

NR 2024
To Be Continued

A chronicle of the grassroots effort to save the iconic State Theatre in North Point from demolition. This evocative documentary is also a deep dive into the eye-opening story of Harry Odell, the theatre’s founder and Hong Kong’s first impresario, who brought Xavier Cugat, Isaac Stern, and other legendary musical figures to the city. Rich with local history, and possessing a surprising connection to local singer Hins Cheung, the story of the State Theatre and Harry Odell is a celebration of Hong Kong’s dynamic culture and indomitable spirit.

To Be Continued

NR 2023
as a bird that briefly perches

As a bird that briefly perches is a cinematic diary that weaves together the filmmaker’s sentiments about homeland with reference to the geology of Hong Kong; an analogy between human nature and greenhouse gardening; and her reflections on the choice of living abroad as she studies the everyday life of migrant farmers and their adaptation on foreign soil, reinterpreting agricultural processes and the migration of species. The work explores the implications of rooting, re-rooting and growing as the artist contemplates on the evolving dynamics between land and human.

as a bird that briefly perches

6.0 2025
Almost A Revolution

The Occupy Central movement called for civil disobedience in the middle of Hong Kong’s financial district, in pursuit of democratic elections. The movement attracted many sympathetic students and citizens, and became known around the world as the “Umbrella Revolution” in 2014. This film closely follows the action on the ground: debates within the movement, street speeches, the unofficial referendum which was held as part of the campaign, and the student-led protests at the Central Government Office. It examines the tumultuous thoughts and feelings of seven activists who were there at the heart of the struggle.

Almost A Revolution

NR 2015
We Are Alive

Director Yau Ching has been conducting media production workshops in juvenile reform and welfare institutes in Hong Kong, Macau and Sapporo, Japan for seven years. With simple video recording techniques, the teenagers make this video letter to talk about love, dream, idols and ups and downs in their lives. Are you sick of those pretending high school dramas? Try to take a look at this sincere documentation of youthhood. To get your taken-for-granted values reflected, to be touched by their truthful reveals without any sensational gimmick, and most importantly, to recall what we went through when we were young, and the ways we could be alive…

We Are Alive

NR 2010